The text that we will study now is the Sutra of the Three Heaps (Skt: Triskandhadharmasutra). The three heaps or collections of activities that we do in conjunction with it are confessing (revealing our unskillful actions), rejoicing, and dedicating. This sutra is found within a larger sutra, The Stack of Jewels Sutra (Skt: Ratnakutasutra) in the chapter called “The Definitive Vinaya.” Nagarjuna wrote a commentary to this sutra entitled The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Ethical Downfalls (Skt: Bodhipattidesanavrtti), which is the name we often use in English to refer to the practice.Why do we need to purify? Because our mind is full of rubbish. Have you noticed that your mind is full of all sorts of illogical thoughts, disturbing emotions, and obsessions? These afflictions are not the nature of the mind. They are like clouds covering the clear sky. They are temporary and can be removed. It is to our advantage to remove them. Why? We want to be happy and peaceful and to be free from suffering, and we want others to be so as well. From our own experience, we know that under the influence of the afflictions – disturbing attitudes and negative emotions – we act in ways that harm ourselves and others. The results of these actions can go on a long time after the action itself has stopped. These two – afflictions and actions (karma) – are the true origins of our suffering, and we need to eliminate them. To do this, we must realize emptiness, the deeper mode of existence. To do this, we must develop concentration, and to do this, we first need to abandon destructive actions, engage in positive ones, and purify the destructive actions we have created in the past. The practice of prostrating to the thirty-five Buddhas and reciting and meditating on the meaning of “The Bodhisattva’s Confession of Ethical Downfalls” is a potent method to purify the karmic imprints that obscure our mind, prevent us from gaining Dharmarealizations, and lead us to suffering.Our mind is like a field. Before we can grow anything, such as realizations of the path, in it, we have to clean the field, fertilize it, and plant the seeds. Prior to planting the seeds of listening to Dharma teachings, we need to clear away the garbage in the field of the mind by doing purification practices. We fertilize our mind by doing practices which accumulate positive potential.Purification practice is very helpful spiritually as well as psychologically. A lot of the psychological problems we have stem from negative actions we’ve done in this life and previous lives. So the more we do purification practice, the more we learn to be honest with ourselves. We stop denying our internal garbage, come to grips with what we’ve said and done, and make peace with our past. The more we’re able to do this, the happier and more psychologically well-balanced we’ll be. This is a benefit that purification brings this life.

Purification is also helpful for us spiritually and benefits us in future lives. It’s going to take us many lifetimes to become a Buddha, so making sure we have good future lives in which we can continue to practice is essential. Purification eliminates negative karmic seeds that could throw us into an unfortunate rebirth in the future. In addition, by eliminating karmic seeds, purification also removes the obscuring effect they have on our mind. Thus we will be able to understand the teachings better when we study, reflect, and meditate on them.So to progress spiritually, we need to purify.Despite all these benefits to be derived from revealing and purifying our mistakes, one part of our mind has some resistance to it. There’s the thought, “I’m ashamed of the things that I’ve done. I’m afraid that people will know what’s going on in my mind and then they won’t accept me.” With this in the back of our mind, we cover up what we’ve done and what we’ve thought to the point where we can’t even be honest with ourselves, let alone with thepeople we care about. This makes for a painful mind/heart.The word “shak pa” in Tibetan is often translated as “confession,” but it actually means to reveal or to split open. It refers to splitting open and revealing the things we’re ashamed of and have hidden from ourselves and others. Instead of our garbage in a container festering under the ground, growing mold and gook, we break it open and clean it out. When we do, all the festering mess clears up because we stop justifying, rationalizing, suppressing,and repressing things. Instead, we just learn to be honest with ourselves and admit, “I made this mistake.” We are honest but we don’t exaggerate it either, saying, “Oh, I’m such an awful person. No wonder no one loves me.” We just acknowledge our mistake, repair it, and go on with our life.

The Four Opponent PowersPower of RegretPower of Reliance/Repairing the RelationshipPower of Determination not to Repeat the ActionPower of Remedial Action

Purification is done by means of the four opponent powers. The first one is the power of regret for having acted in a harmful way. Note: this is regret, not guilt. It’s important to differentiate these two. Regret has an element of wisdom; it notices our mistakes and regrets them. Guilt, on the other hand, makes a drama, “Oh, look what I’ve done! I’m so terrible.How could I have done this? I’m so awful.” Who is the star of the show when we feel guilty?Me! Guilt is rather self-centered, isn’t it? Regret, however, isn’t imbued with selfflagellation.Deep regret is essential to purify our negativities. Without it, we have no motivation to purify. Thinking about the suffering effects our actions have on others and on ourselves stimulates regret. How do our destructive actions hurt us? They place negative karmic seeds on our own mindstream, and these will cause us to experience suffering in the future.The second opponent power is the power of reliance or the power of repairing the relationship. When we act negatively, generally the object is either holy beings or ordinary beings. The way to repair the relationship with holy beings is by taking refuge in the Three Jewels. The relationship with the holy beings was damaged by our negative action and the thought behind it. Now we repair that by generating faith and confidence in our spiritualmentors and the Three Jewels and taking refuge in them.The way to repair the relationships we’ve damaged with ordinary beings is by generating bodhicitta and having the wish to become a fully enlightened Buddha in order to benefit them in the most far-reaching way.If it is possible to go to the people we have harmed and apologize to them, that’s good to do. But most important is to reconcile and repair the broken relationship in our own mind.Sometimes the other person may be dead, or we have lost touch with them, or they may not be ready to talk with us. In addition, we want to purify negative actions created in previous lifetimes and we have no idea where or who the other people are now. In other words, we can’t always go to them and apologize directly.Therefore, what’s most important is to restore the relationship in our own mind. Here, we generate love, compassion, and the altruistic intention for those whom previously we held bad feelings about. It was those negative emotions that motivated our harmful actions, so by transforming the emotions that motivate us, our future actions will also be transformed.The third of the four opponent powers is the force of determining not to do it again.This is making a clear determination how we want to act in the future. It’s good to pick a specific and realistic length of time for making a strong determination not to repeat the action. Then we must be careful during that time not to do the same action. Through making such determinations, we begin to change in evident ways. We also gain confidence that we can, in fact, break old bad habits and act with more kindness towards others.With regard to some negative actions, we can feel confident that we’ll never do them again because we’ve looked inside and said, “That’s too disgusting. Never again am I going to do that!” We can say that with confidence. With other things, like talking behind other people’s back or losing our temper and making hurtful comments, it may be more difficult for us to say confidently that we’ll never do again. We might make the promise and then fiveminutes later find ourselves doing it again simply because of habit or lack of awareness. In such a situation, it’s better to say, “For the next two days I won’t repeat that action.”Alternatively, we could say, “I will try very hard not to do that again,” or “I will be very attentive regarding my behavior in that area.”The fourth opponent power is the power of remedial action. Here we actively do something. In the context of this practice, we recite the names of the 35 Buddhas and prostrate to them. Other purification practices include such activities as reciting the Vajrasattva mantra, making tsa-tsas (little Buddha figures), reciting sutras, meditating onemptiness, helping to publish Dharma books, making offerings to our teacher, a monastery, Dharma center, or temple, or the Three Jewels. Remedial actions also include doing community service work such as offering service in hospice, prison, volunteer programs that help children learn to read, food banks, homeless shelters, old-age facilities – any action that benefits others. There are many types of remedial actions that we can do.

An incredibly powerful way to purify negative karma is by reciting the names of the 35 Confession Buddhas contained in the Sutra of the Bodhisattvas. As you recite, generate thoughts of huge regret in your mind for whatever bad things you may have done in past lives, as well as everything bad you did in your present life. When you direct your thoughts this way with genuine regret, you are in effect confessing all the moral downfalls you ever accumulated since life began, many of which you may indeed have forgotten. It does not matter if you recall all the times when you succumbed to negativities leading to the creation of bad karma. The important thing is simply to generate the mind of surrendering to your inner good nature so that it manifests. For this you need the help of the Buddhas, so call them by their names. Generate devotion as you read the names of the Buddhas for they are powerful indeed. Better yet, put your hands together in the mudra of prayer, both palms touching, then think reverent thoughts as you read each name three times. After each name say the words, “I bow to you,” or “I take refuge in youRecite the names in three rounds and when you come to the end, make a strong dedication. Remember that the merit created by this simple practice is as vast as the skies and as deep as the oceans. Close your eyes for a few moments and imagine all the negative karma just falling away from you.This is a very powerful practice for dissolving obstacles that bring aggravations and problems into your life.

Jetsun Milarepa’s repeated building and dismantling of houses for his guru Marpa were all for eliminating obstacles to his spiritual progress. Having overcome the hindrances accumulated by his previous destructive actions, Milarepa was able to attain full enlightenment in his very lifetime.

Both Marpa and Jey Tsongkhapa had the custom of prostrating while reciting The Admission of Downfalls (lTung-bshags), popularly known as Admission before the Thirty-five Buddhas. As preliminary practice (ngondro) for strengthening an enlightenment-building network of positive force (collection of merit) and for cleansing obstacles, Jey Tsongkhapa offered thirty-five sets of 100,000 prostrations, one to each of the thirty-five Buddhas, as well as eighteen sets of 100,000 mandala offerings.

Recitation of The Admission of Downfalls three times each morning and three time each evening is the special method for restoring weakened bodhisattva vows, while Vajrasattva meditation with repetition of the hundred-syllable mantra is especially effective for degenerated tantric vows. To cleanse yourself thoroughly of the obstacles that arise from such broken commitments, you need to make these practices complete with the four opponent forces. After openly declaring your transgressions, you need to regret these mistakes, promise to try your best not to repeat them, reaffirm your foundation of safe direction and bodhichitta, and apply the respective meditation practices as opponents to counteract your downfalls.

There are a variety of purification practices, "The Bodhisattva's Confession of Ethical Downfalls" being one of the most popular. We all have done actions that we now feel badly about doing, and we have aspects of ourselves that we do not like and wish to change. Purification practices are excellent means to remove emotional burdens such as guilt, as well as to pacify the obstacles to our happiness and self-improvement created by the imprints of our destructive actions. Guilt over past actions is useless, only leaving us feeling helpless and hopeless. On the other hand, acting to purify negative imprints and afflictions is very productive. It helps us to change our bad habits and subdues obstacles to long life and success in our spiritual practice.

A complete purification practice consists of four opponent powers:

1. The power of regret for having done the negative action.

2. The power of reliance: taking refuge, which restores our relationship with holy objects, and generating the altruistic intention, which restores our relationship with other sentient beings.

3. The power of the remedial action, e.g. prostration, offering, reciting the names of the Buddha, reading or contemplating the Dharma, etc.

4. The power of the promise not to repeat the action.

These four opponent powers are found in "The Bodhisattva's Confession of Ethical Downfalls," the Vajrasattva meditation, and other practices.

The Bodhisattva's Confession of Ethical Downfalls: Prostrations to the Thirty-Five Buddhas

There are several visualizations of the thirty-five Buddhas. The easiest is to visualize Shakyamuni Buddha, golden in color, with thirty-four light rays coming from his heart. These light rays form five rows and upon each ray is seated a Buddha. The Buddhas in each row resemble one of the five Dhyani Buddhas.

Akshobya BuddhaIn the first row, are the next six Buddhas mentioned in the prayer. They resemble Akshobya Buddha, blue, the left hand in his lap in the gesture of meditative equipoise, the right hand in the earth-touching gesture (on the right knee, palm down). However, the One Thus Gone, the King with Power over the Nagas, looks slightly different: he has a blue body, a white face, and his hands are folded together at his heart.

Vairocana Buddha

In the second row, the next seven Buddhas resemble Vairocana Buddha, white, with both hands at the heart, the index fingers extended.

Ratnasambhava Buddha

In the third row, the next seven Buddhas resemble Ratnasambhava Buddha, yellow. His left hand is in meditative equipoise, and his right hand is in the gesture of giving (on the right knee, palm outwards).

Amitabha Buddha

In the fourth row, the next seven Buddhas resemble Amitabha Buddha, red, with both hands in meditative equipoise on his lap.

Amogasiddhi Buddha

In the fifth row, the next seven Buddhas resemble Amogasiddhi Buddha, green. The left hand is in meditative equipoise and the right hand is bent at the elbow with the palm facing outwards.

Visualize that you are surrounded by all sentient beings in human form and that you are leading them in prostrating to the Buddhas. While prostrating, imagine much light coming from the Buddhas and flowing into you and into all the sentient beings around you. This light purifies all imprints of negative actions and all afflictions.

After reciting the names of the thirty-five Buddhas and the prayer of the three heaps -- confession, rejoicing and dedication -- you may also want to recite the "General Confession."

After this, visualize the thirty-four Buddhas dissolve into Shakyamuni Buddha. He comes on top of your head and melts into golden light. The light descends through the crown of your head and goes to your heart chakra, in the center of your chest. Feel that all negative karma and obscurations have been completely purified and that your mind has become inseparable from the Buddha's pure mind of wisdom and compassion.